Basically, Venus Express is ghosting along in its orbit, with the pericentre height (height of closest altitude above the surface) during each orbit steadily decaying due to gravity and natural perturbations.

On 28 November 2014, the flight control team at ESOC reported lack of contact with Venus Express at the first opportunity for communication with a ground station after execution of the 6th of the pericentre-raising manoeuvres.

Between 23-30 November, the operations team at ESOC will conduct manoeuvres to raise the pericentre of the Venus Express (VEX) orbit again, in an effort to keep the spacecraft in productive orbit around Venus.

Update contributed by the VEX team – Ed. Here’s the latest plot showing the lowest altitudes reached by Venus Express on each of its aerobraking orbits. Yesterday morning, 2 July, the spacecraft performed another manoeuvre designed to lower...